


Stay

by emmerrr



Series: To live will be an awfully big adventure [13]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew Minyard cares an awful lot, Clingy Neil, Fluff, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles, lighthearted banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 14:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12483588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmerrr/pseuds/emmerrr
Summary: Clingy Neil, sleepy cuddles, and an Andrew who cares a whole bunch and isn’t much good at hiding it.





	Stay

Andrew’s alone in the suite when he gets out of bed.

It’s Saturday, usually a no-practice day, but Neil’s been out of commission for a week with a particularly nasty and persistent cold, unable to play Exy at all. Now that he’s almost fully recovered, Kevin had insisted on Neil joining him this morning for a few drills in preparation for the upcoming week’s practices, at the end of which they have a game to play.

Andrew knows that Kevin won’t push Neil too hard considering Neil’s been ill and Kevin is actually very concerned about the health of his teammates, but he still privately thinks Neil could have done with an extra day at least before doing anything strenuous. Not that there’s any use telling Neil that.

Neil hadn’t slept well the night before, tossing and turning so much that it kept Andrew awake too, in his loft above Neil’s bed. When Kevin’s alarm had gone off bright and early, he’d noisily called over to Neil to make sure he was awake as well before stomping out to the bathroom.

Neil had groaned quietly and Andrew said, “If you don’t feel well enough to go, don’t go.”

“I _want_ to go,” came the stubborn reply, and Andrew had rolled his eyes and muttered something about Neil being a junkie before closing his eyes to go back to sleep.

So it's empty when he gets up and he has the space to himself for a while. He spends the time sitting on his desk drinking coffee and smoking out the window.

Hours later when Kevin and Neil return, Kevin only sticks around long enough to change before heading out again to meet Wymack. It’s recruitment season again and Kevin’s helping him go through files, as has become their routine.

Neil, despite the fact that he already would have washed up at the stadium, takes himself off to the bathroom where he spends an unusually long time in the shower. Andrew presumes he probably got cold in the January air on the way back to Fox Tower and so is just trying to warm himself up.

Andrew sighs, resigning himself to a weekend of keeping Neil inside and warm and resting. But there are worse ways to spend his time.

Andrew’s in the process of hunting down every blanket in the suite and dropping them onto the sofa when Neil gets out of the shower. He pauses on his way to the bedroom to look at what Andrew is doing, but then he disappears inside and Andrew can hear him opening and closing drawers as he gets changed.

Andrew heads to the kitchen and starts preparing drinks; hot chocolate for him, a hot honey and lemon for Neil who could really use the vitamin C, and the warmth should also be soothing enough to hopefully send him off to sleep. He desperately needs to rest up after barely sleeping all week with a hacking cough.

Andrew flits his gaze to the bedroom door when he hears Neil’s shuffling footsteps. He feels a small amount of satisfaction when he sees Neil is wearing Andrew’s team hoodie, but the sweatpants he’s wearing are definitely Kevin’s if the way they’re bunching around Neil's ankles are anything to go by. Andrew’s about to ask Neil why he’s not wearing his own, when he suddenly remembers and looks down; _he’s_ wearing Neil’s sweatpants.

As Andrew returns his attention to his task at hand, he thinks that at the very least there’s no danger of Kevin wearing any of Neil’s or Andrew’s clothes. They're much too small for him.

When he’s finished with the drinks, he carries the mugs back over to the sofa, where Neil has made himself into a blanket burrito.

“Comfy?” Andrew asks, raising an eyebrow as he places the mugs carefully down onto the coffee table.

“Mm,” Neil hums, blinking sleepily, all doe-eyed and soft in a way he only ever is with Andrew. “Could be comfier, though.” He smiles and Andrew’s a goner, every damn time.

He can still be difficult though. “How so?”

“ _Andrewww_ ,” Neil whines, reaching out an arm from his blanket burrito and tugging lightly on Andrew’s t-shirt. “Sit with me.”

Andrew rolls his eyes — it’s definitely going to be that sort of day — but he sits down in the space Neil has left for him. He untangles Neil from a couple of the blankets so that he doesn’t completely overheat himself, and then he arranges them around himself and Neil.

Once satisfied, he turns to Neil and presses the back of his hand to Neil’s forehead, then his cheek.

Neil scrunches his face up, annoyed. “I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask,” Andrew says.

“You didn’t have to.” His voice is still a little croaky following his cold, but he doesn’t have a temperature, and besides from very obviously being tired and somewhat grumpy, Andrew’s fairly satisfied that Neil’s not about to regress back into full-blown sickness.

“You worry too much,” Neil says after Andrew has let his hand fall away.

“I worry the appropriate amount when it comes to you,” Andrew replies, and it feels like a big admission somehow but it’s too late; it’s out there now.

Neil smiles again, and Andrew bypasses the moment by reaching forward and grabbing the mugs off the coffee table. He passes Neil his and then settles back in, warming his hands. He can feel Neil’s eyes on him but he says nothing, just enjoys the quiet while it’s offered. ‘Quiet’ being the operative word — Neil slurps his drink obnoxiously, but it’s okay. Andrew lets it go.

When they’ve both finished, Andrew gets up to take the mugs to the kitchen to rinse them out.

“Lie down,” he calls over to Neil from the sink. “Take a nap.”

“Are you coming to sit back down?”

“No.”

Neil turns around and peers pathetically over the back of the sofa with those ridiculous eyes of his. “Why not?”

“Because you need to nap.”

“I can nap with you here.”

Andrew flicks his eyes to his desk. He does have homework to do but he supposes it can wait; it’s not like it will be hard. He looks back to Neil, who’s still watching him. “If I don’t come and sit with you, are you going to complain while I try and do my homework?”

Neil nods. “Most definitely. Come on, Andrew.” He affects a fake cough. “I’m sick.”

“Uh huh.”

Neil grins now, because he knows he’s won — like there was ever a chance of that not happening. So Andrew silently admits defeat and goes back over.

He sits down and gets his feet up, slouching down sidelong on the sofa, the back of his head just perched on the armrest and legs stretched out across both seats. He holds his arm up expectantly, wordless permission, and Neil arranges himself on his side, neatly wedged in between Andrew and the back of the sofa. Once he’s settled himself with his head on Andrew’s chest, arm flung across Andrew’s middle and their legs overlapping, Andrew reaches around for one of the discarded blankets. He has to jostle Neil slightly as he makes sure he’s covered, but it doesn’t take long and then he settles an arm around Neil, putting a gentle hand in his hair.

Neil hums contentedly and his eyes are already shut. It’s only a few minutes until he’s completely out, rhythmic breathing warming Andrew’s chest. Andrew considers switching the TV on and turning the volume down low while Neil sleeps just for something to do, but before he makes a move for the remote, his own eyes start feeling heavy. He’s not slept great either, not with Neil unwell and irritable, and now he’s comfy and Neil’s so _warm_...

Drifting off is inevitable.

Familiar foot-falls rouse Andrew an indeterminable amount of time later but he doesn’t open his eyes yet. It’s only Nicky and Aaron. He doesn’t particularly want to move and hopefully they’ll just leave once they see that Neil and Andrew are both, as far as they’ll be able to tell, asleep.

Nicky’s almost reverent gasp isn’t a surprise, although he should be used to this by now. Andrew and Neil sleep on each other often enough on the bus; Nicky’s seen it before.

“Oh my god, Aaron, is this not the cutest shit you’ve ever fucking seen?” Nicky whispers. He’s not a quiet whisperer.

“No. Nicky, put your phone away, Andrew will murder you if you take a picture,” Aaron says, much to Andrew’s approval.

“You’re no fun,” Nicky grumbles. “Okay, well we can’t play in here because they’re sleeping, but if you help me unplug the x-box we can take it back to our suite and play in there, Matt won’t mind.”

“Whatever. Let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”

More footsteps, and then Andrew hears them start to fiddle around with the sockets near the TV. He finally opens his eyes, now too awake to fall back asleep even after they leave, but Neil is still snoozing happily away with his head pillowed on Andrew’s chest, and Andrew would prefer him to stay that way.

Nicky and Aaron both have their backs to Andrew and so haven’t noticed he’s not only awake but also looking right at them.

“I don’t think Andrew would mind _that_ much if I took a picture,” Nicky says.

“He absolutely would.”

“Nah. He’s mellowed. Don’t you think he’s mellowed?”

“ _Mellowed_ ,” Aaron says with a scoff. “I don’t think you can call anyone who’s armed to the teeth at any given moment ‘mellow’.”

“. . .Point.” Nicky sighs mournfully. “I just think that Neil and Andrew look cute sometimes and it should be documented for posterity. But whatever.”

“They are not _cute_.”

“Aw, don’t be jealous, Aaron. If I walked in on you and Katelyn snuggling I’d think it was cute, too.”

“That’s because _Katelyn’s_ cute. Neil isn’t.”

Nicky’s inhale is positively scandalised. “You take that back right now. Neil is _adorable_.”

“He’s also asleep,” Andrew drawls, making his wakefulness known and causing his cousin and brother to whirl around in surprise, Nicky’s eyes widening at having been caught out.

“Sorry, Andrew,” he stage whispers. “We’ll be out of your way in a minute.”

“You didn’t take a picture, did you?” Andrew asks. He didn’t hear anything to imply otherwise but you can never be too careful when it comes to Nicky. His arm curls further around Neil protectively; Neil's hair tickles his chin.

“Aaron wouldn’t let me,” Nicky pouts.

“Good.”

Nicky picks up the x-box and deposits it in Aaron’s hands, then searches through the rack of games, pulling out three to take with him.

“You better put the discs back in the right boxes when you’re done, Nicky,” Andrew starts, then freezes when Neil starts to shift in his arms. He peeks down and Neil’s expression has turned disgruntled, the outside noises obviously pulling on his subconscious. But then his face slackens once more and his breathing evens out, and Andrew looses a breath. He looks back to Nicky. “I mean it,” he says, tone much quieter than before.

Nicky’s face splits in a shit-eating grin at the whole scene, which is admittedly entirely transparent. Andrew's care of Neil is painfully self-evident these days, and now that Nicky's aware of it he never  _stops_ noticing. “You got it, Andrew,” he says. And then, “Let me take a picture?”

“Oh my god,” Aaron says, and walks over to the door.

Andrew pretends to think about it. “Hmm. No.”

“You might want them one day,” Nicky says, never one to give up easily.

“What do I need a picture for, I know what Neil looks like.”

Nicky rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay.” Then he snorts. “If I took one anyway it’s not like you could stop me.”

“You are pretty incapacitated at the moment,” Aaron adds from over by the door.

Andrew isn't worried; he knows Nicky won't go against his wishes, but he can still play along. “True, but Neil won’t be asleep forever, and I know where you live.”

Nicky smiles as he starts towards Aaron. “Neil would stick up for me, I reckon.”

“You maybe,” Andrew says, mulling this over. “Aaron on the other hand. . .”

“What did _I_ do?”

“Go. Away,” Andrew says.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re going,” Nicky replies cheerfully. Before the door closes behind them, Andrew clearly hears Nicky say, “See? Mellowed.”

In the quiet that follows their departure, as Andrew tucks a wayward curl behind Neil’s ear, he thinks it’s possible that Nicky’s not far off.

**Author's Note:**

> I called this 'stay' purely because I've been listening to stay by rihanna and mikky ekko almost exclusively while writing this. anyway this was only supposed to be like 1000 words and I was just gonna end it with andrew falling asleep but then nicky and aaron showed up and in short, I have no idea what I'm doing ever, I just start writing and see what happens.
> 
> I hope you enjoy anyway! :)


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